Semantic Differential Analysis Research Articles

Research on color and texture characteristics and visual perception of custom wardrobe finishes

In recent years, the custom wardrobe market has been steadily developing. While meeting the functional needs of users, it is gradually shifting towards aesthetic preferences. Rapidly grasping users’ preferences for the appearance of custom wardrobes is a key focus of current research. This study collected a large number of decorative surface images of custom wardrobes and objectively analyzed the design features based on color moments and Tamura texture feature data in computer image analysis methods. K-means cluster analysis was performed on the feature data. Collected images of the points closest to the cluster centers were further screened to select representative finish images, and finally a questionnaire survey was conducted at Nanjing Forestry University, with the help of semantic differential method and factor analysis. The characteristics of the samples were comprehensively summarized to infer design elements. The study found that warm-toned, medium-low saturation, and medium brightness surfaces were preferred by the panel. Different colors, contrasts, saturations, brightness, element features, and arrangements have significantly different effects on visual perception. These conclusions can provide a reference for subsequent custom wardrobe design.

Voice use of nurses working in the intensive care unit during the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the voice use of nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) and their perception of acoustic environments. Setting and sampleThe research was conducted in four different hospitals in China during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 60 ICU nurses were recruited for their voice use monitoring and 100 nurses participated in the survey. Research methodologyFirstly, voice-related parameters such as voice level (SPL, dB), fundamental frequency (F0, Hz), and voicing time percentage (Dt, %) were measured using a vocal monitor. To collect data, a non-invasive accelerometer was attached to the participants' necks during their working hours. Secondly, the perception of the ICU acoustic environment was assessed using semantic differential. ResultsThe results showed that nurses spoke approximately 0.9–4 dB louder to patients and colleagues in ICUs compared to quiet rooms, and their fundamental frequency (F0) significantly increased during work. The voice levels of nurses were influenced by background noise levels, with a significant correlation coefficient of 0.44 (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the background noise levels ranged from 58.1 to 73.9 dBA, exceeding the guideline values set by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The semantic differential analysis identified ‘Stress’ and ‘Irritation’ as the two main components, indicating the prevalence of negative experiences within ICUs. Implications for clinical practiceThis study highlights the potential risk of voice disorders among ICU nurses. The findings also underscore the importance of implementing strategies to reduce noise levels in ICUs to reduce voice disorders among nurses.

СОЦИАЛЬНЫЕ ПРЕДСТАВЛЕНИЯ ОБ ИСКУССТВЕННОМ ИНТЕЛЛЕКТЕ: ПОЛЕЗНЫЙ, ЭМОЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ И СМЕШНОЙ

In 2023, technologies based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) became available to many users of smartphones and digital services all over the world. AI is accessible in the form of Voice Assistants (VAs), music recommendations, Virtual Assistants, and even psychotherapy-bots. Such spread of AI also influenced the interest of psychologists in the topic of human-AI Interaction (HAII). In our work, following the tradition of social representation research by Moscovici [Moscovici 2015], we consider AI as an object of social representation. Using the VA as a form of AI, we reconstruct the semantic field of VA in a group of its users and offer a description of the process of its formation. The study took place in three stages: free associations, interviews, and survey. In the interview, the sample consisted of 15 people, in free associations – 168 people (3,329 associations with the phrase “Voice assistant” were analyzed), in the survey using the semantic differential method – 800 people. As a result of the thematic and frequency analysis, the following results were obtained: • The semantic field at the present stage of the study of VA is positiveneutral; the associations are divided into two topics: about the intellectual abilities and emotional qualities of the VA. • With semantic differential analysis, three factors were separately obtained: usefulness, emotionality, and humor. It is assumed that it is in the category of those three factors that the perception of a particular VA is formed. • The process of forming social representations is outlined with the help of interviews. Two main stages in “communication” with the VA were identified: the image formation and interaction with the finished image. As future research it was proposed to continue studying the impact of the image of the VA within the current perception model on various features of interaction with it (e.g. within the framework of economic decisions)

Attitudes of manufacturers toward the value attributes of regional product brands

The increasing consumption of regional products is pivotal in fostering regional development, a phenomenon analyzed in various academic discourses. This article aims to contribute to the existing knowledge base by exploring the attributes of regional brands of products, specifically from the perspective of regional producers (regional brand of product holders). Unfortunately, this topic remains underexplored within academia, resulting in the need for an in-depth investigation. The article undertook a comprehensive analysis of articles in reputable databases such as Web of Science and Scopus, focusing on brand, brand equity, and regional product brands to address this research gap. The primary objective of this article is to describe the attitudes of regional brand producers towards attributes of brand equity in the case of regional brand products. The paper also presents the outcomes of quantitative marketing research. The research employed the computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) method, collecting data between November and December 2023. The presented research is based on a substantial sample of 101 respondents from the Czech Republic. The statistical software IBM SPS Statistics and XLSTAT program were subsequently used for data calculation and presentation. Semantic differential, descriptive statistics, and hierarchical cluster analysis were applied to the data analysis. It was found that some groups of regional producers have similar attitudes toward the attributes of regional product brands. All results and findings are then discussed. Exploration advances the understanding of regional product brands’ dynamics and provides a valuable foundation for future research in this field.

Research on Public Space Micro-Renewal Strategy of Historical and Cultural Blocks in Sanhe Ancient Town under Perception Quantification

The public space environment of historical and cultural blocks is inseparable from human activities, which affects tourists’ behavior and perception activities. Through the evaluation of tourists’ environmental behavior perception, the relationship between spatial characteristics and tourists’ perception is fully considered, which plays an important role in the protection and development of public space in historical and cultural blocks. This paper takes the historical and cultural block of Sanhe Ancient Town in Hefei as the research area, focusing on the public space of the block. Through the analysis of the semantic differential method and eye movement legal quantitative analysis, from the angle of psychological perception and visual perception, we carried out an analysis of the historical and cultural block’s public space, and built the double sense of a comprehensive evaluation system of parsing the historical and cultural blocks with the whole situation of public space and the rule of the performance. The results show that: (1) the visual perception preference for spatial elements is in the order of architectural structure &gt; green landscape &gt; architectural decoration &gt; commercial activities &gt; participants &gt; pavement &gt; street furniture &gt; others. (2) There is a significant correlation but not a complete convergence of psychological perception and visual perception. (3) Buildings, structures, and space formats play a key role in creating a sense of space scale, with the former playing a positive role and the latter a negative role. (4) The visual attraction of a green landscape is strong and can improve the visual quality of space. The research found that there are evaluation differences between the visual perception and psychological perception of spatial elements, which are significantly correlated but not fully convergent. Through quantitative analysis and the interpretation of tourists’ perception from different perspectives, we can take relevant improvement and optimization measures for many deficiencies of public space in historical and cultural districts.

Preservation and Renewal: A Study on Visual Evaluation of Urban Historical and Cultural Street Landscape in Quanzhou

This paper summarizes the basic characteristics of the cultural landscape in historical blocks by combing the relevant research results from visual evaluation of the landscape in historical blocks. Nine streets and alleys in the five historical blocks of Quanzhou, Fujian, were selected as the research objects, and the current situations of cultural landscapes in their spaces were collected and drawn into a table. The Semantic Differential (SD) method and Factor Analysis (FA) method were used to investigate and visually evaluate nine streets and alleys in five historical and cultural blocks in Quanzhou City. The questionnaire was formed in accordance with the requirements of the SD method, and evaluation was performed according to the questionnaire data. The FA method was used to further analyze the data, deduce the landscape evaluation curve and comprehensive evaluation table of historical and cultural blocks and construct the landscape visual evaluation system for blocks. At the same time, combined with the weight of each factor, the comprehensive evaluation score of each block was calculated. Finally, according to the score, the nine historical and cultural streets are sorted, the reasons are analyzed, and the references are discussed to provide scientific reference for the development and evaluation of other historical blocks.

Characterization of soundscape perception of preschool children

To characterize their soundscape perception, preschool children were subjected to inclusive soundscape exposure conditions (both indoor and outdoor) and were asked to evaluate the soundscape in this study comprising two experiments. In Experiment 1, reliable soundscape perception dimensions for preschool children were formulated using semantic differential analysis. In Experiment 2, the relationship between the dimensions and the overall soundscape evaluation and acoustic characteristics was investigated. The principal component analysis resulted in three factors (eigenvalue> 1), namely pleasantness, peacefulness, and regularity, explaining 69.96% of the variance (48.70%, 13.13%, and 8.13%, respectively). Among them, pleasantness and peacefulness significantly contributed to the overall soundscape evaluation (preference), as the improvement attitude of these two factors led to a higher chance of a positive attitude towards the overall soundscape preference (i.e., “like”). LA50 and LA10 contributed significantly to the regression for pleasantness and peacefulness, accounting for 41.2% and 92.6% of the prediction variance, respectively. Regularity had no significant effect on the overall soundscape evaluation. In addition, no acoustic characteristics significantly predicted this factor. The outcome showed that preschool children are capable of multi-scale evaluation of diverse soundscapes, embodying their awareness of both the quality and influence of the acoustic environment. Their soundscape perception dimensions pertain to the features of the preschool period and are thus inconsistent with previous adults' soundscape dimensions. In addition, preschool children seem to desire mild and peaceful soundscapes under control.

Lesya Ukrainka's Poetry in Chinese Translation: Psycholinguistic Aspect

Aim of the study. On the basis of the theories of dynamic translation, determine the degree of correspondence between the psycho-cognitive reactions of Ukrainian and Chinese recipients to the original and translated texts of the poetry-cycle of Lesya Ukrainian “Tears-Pearls”. &#x0D; Research methods. Psycholinguistic methods of empirical research are basic in this article: Osgood’s semantic differential method, content analysis and free associative experiment, other linguistic methods (cognitive and semantic analysis) and general scientific methods (analysis, synthesis, description and classification of linguistic facts) are also used.&#x0D; Results. On the basis of previous theoretical studies, the essential characteristics of translation as a psycho-cognitive process have been established. It is argued that the degree of equivalence of the translation of a literary text is determined not only by the work of the translator, but also by the emotional-evaluative reaction of the target recipients. An important thesis is that the perception of the text (original and translation) is influenced by the interhemispheric asymmetry of the mental activity of speakers of different languages (Clark &amp; Paivio, 1991; Fenollosa, 1968; Zasyekin, 2010). Empirical research has shown that the “right-brain” imaginative thinking of the Chinese partly determines the degree of equivalence of their perception of the translation of Lesya Ukrainka’s poetry. The semantic profiles showed a fairly neutral emotional and evaluative reaction of the Chinese to translation incentives, which, in our opinion, was conditioned by the ethnonational specifics of the original text and the difference in poetic traditions. Despite the preservation of the thematic categories of the original in translation, in the new (Chinese) semantic space, these categories partly acquired other sociocultural meanings, which significantly influenced the equivalence of the translation.&#x0D; Conclusions. The degree of conformity of the psycho-cognitive reaction of target recipients to the original and the translation is determined not only by the type of mental activity of speakers of different languages, but also by a number of extralinguistic factors that determine the formation and state of activity of the verbal-associative network of representatives of different nations.

How Character-Centric Game Icon Design Affects the Perception of Gameplay

Mobile games are developing rapidly as an important part of the national economy. Gameplay is an important attribute, and a game’s icon sometimes determines the user’s initial impression. Whether the user can accurately perceive gameplay and affective quality through the icon is particularly critical. In this article, a two-stage perceptual matching procedure is used to evaluate the perceptual quality of six categories of games whose icons include characters as elements. First, 60 highly visual matching icons were selected as second-stage objects through classification tasks. Second, through the semantic differential method and correlation analysis, highly visual matching icons’ affective matching quality was measured. Finally, a series of icon samples were determined, and element analysis was carried out. Several methods were proposed for improving the perceptual quality of game icons. Studying the perceptual matching relationship can better enhance the interaction between designers, developers, and users.

To Act or Not to Act: Are Natural Landscapes a Key Force in the Resilience of Historic Urban Landscapes?

Ignoring the function of natural landscapes in the rapid development of urbanization, and especially in the conservation of historic urban landscapes, is still obvious today, and this has caused a large decrease in natural space, loss of habitats, and an increase in disasters. The resilience of a whole city and parts of it, such as historic urban areas where the historical process of man and nature have been recorded, as well as the interaction between nature, economy, and culture, is not strong enough to maintain the stability of urban ecosystems. It is misleading to think that the resilience can be built in a historic urban area without a natural landscape. We question whether this is true. Using a semantic differential analysis method from a historical perspective, this paper aims to answer this question through research on the correlation between resilience and man and nature through a case study of Yudai Trench historic urban landscape in Guangzhou, a historic urban area with 1000 years of history. A total of 212 pieces of evidence were extracted from 59 historical sources. The results showed that the cultural and economic conditions were in the same step and cycles as nature, which were influenced strongly by climate change, and that the natural landscape has a correlation on and is a dominant force in the resilience of historic urban landscapes.

The Psychological Readiness Model of Military Personnel to Take Risks during a Combat Deployment

The purpose of this article is to present an empirically-derived psychological readiness model of military personnel to take risks during combat deployment. The model was developed using the methods of semantic differential, peer review, and factor analysis. Its theoretical basis is the concept of “hardiness”. The study involved 104 military personnel of the National Guard of Ukraine had combat experience in the War in Eastern Ukraine. The model includes four components: “Ability for volitional efforts (mobilization)”, “Military brotherhood”, “Professional identity”, “Self-control (endurance)”. Their content covers the emotional-volitional, cognitive, motivational, moral, active-practical, existential-being, and interpersonal-social spheres of the individual. The leading role in the model belongs to strong-willed features, combat cohesion, patriotism, and adaptive resources of the individual, which make it possible to maintain the effectiveness of military personnel’s combat activities under conditions of risk. The basis of the psychological readiness of military personnel to actively act and overcome difficulties in conditions of risk (uncertainty, direct threat to health and life) with the absence of reliable guarantees for success is hardiness. It is suggested that the model can be used for psychological selection procedures, professional and psychological training of military personnel, predicting their behavior under conditions of risk, and developing strategies for psychological support in the post-deployment period. This will reduce psychogenic losses during hostilities.

Visual effect and color matching of dynamic image webpage design

AbstractBrowsing webpages on display devices such as computer monitors and smart phone screens has become commonplace. Color is the major visual mode to express the quality and sentiment of a webpage, and the most suitable webpage colors for viewing can be explored through the experimental analysis of different psychological perception of these colors. This study was divided into four experiments. Experiment 1 involved color emotion adjectives: participants selected the most suitable emotion adjectives for webpages. Experiment 2 concerned the color emotion characteristics of webpage color matching with a black background—participants selected the most popular color for a dynamic webpage with a black background. Experiment 3 focused on the visual fitness of the color scheme in webpages with a white background: participants selected the most popular color for a dynamic webpage with a white background. Experiment 4 concerned the optimal visual effect design of webpage composition; the researchers selected five geometric composition images to conduct a dynamic image webpage experiment to determine the influence of shapes on users' psychological response to webpages and identify the most popular dynamic image composition style. Semantic differential analysis was adopted to conduct psychological tests and investigate the psychological response of the respondents to different webpage colors and compositions. The results indicated that the most popular colors for webpages with a black background and white background were dodger blue (#1e90ff) and cyan (#00ffff), respectively, whereas the most suitable dynamic image composition was an elliptical design.

Ukrainian Poetry in Chinese Translation: Research Data of the Reader's Reception

This paper provides empirical data of a psycholinguistic experiment in the realm of Ukrainian-Chinese artistic (poetic) translation. The material of the research is Chinese translation of Lesya Ukrainka's poetry-cycle Tears-Pearls. The purpose of the experiment is determining the degree of correspondence between the psycho-cognitive reactions of Ukrainian and Chinese recipients to the original and translated texts of Lesya Ukrainka's poetry-cycle Tears-Pearls. Psychoanalytic experiment consists of three parts based on appropriate methods: Osgood's semantic differential method, content analysis and free associative experiment (FAE). As respondents, 40 native Ukrainian speakers (aged 19 to 22) and 32 native Chinese speakers (aged 19 to 35) took part in the experiment. The results of the research are presented in this paper in the form of graphs, charts and tables.

Integrating Green AffectiveValues and Material Selection in Automotive Design: A Preliminary Study

This paper presents a study on the integrating consumer’s green affective values and material selection in the context of product design, specifically in the automotive design. Green affective values are important element in the design to understand user’s emotion, need and preferences toward the green products. It is extremely important to understand user’s feeling on product to avoid potential market failure. The first impression on product is captivated by the use of materials. It is pointed out that intangible issues such as perceptions and intentions of the designer should take a role in the materials selection activity in product design. However, study on the linkage between green affective values and material selection are rarely found in the literature. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to identify the significant green affective values of the consumers in Malaysia and propose a guideline for automotive designers to incorporate affective values into conceptual design and investigate its linkage on material selection. The guideline includes a technology used to translate the consumer’s eco-feeling and impression of a particular component design with appropriate material selection, in this case is on car steering wheel design. Three surveys were conducted to obtain consumer’s understanding on affective values and the feelings elicited when presented with visual stimuli of the material. Semantic differential scale and factor analysis were used to analyze the results. The responses obtained from the surveys were used to develop an eco-tool, which translates user’s feelings and emotions into material properties and linking them to certain materials they perceived as “greener”. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and fuzzy logic were used in developing the material scorecard with regards to environmental profile of design model. The eco-tool was validated by product design experts to understand the usefulness and operability of the guideline. It was found that the tool is easy to navigate and having great potential to help designers on integrating green affective value in design with inclusion of technical aspect and cost into the tool.

Affective Communication of Map Symbols: A Semantic Differential Analysis

Maps enable us to relate to spatial phenomena and events from viewpoints far beyond direct experience. By employing signs and symbols, maps communicate about near as well as distant geospatial phenomena, events, objects, or ideas. Besides acting as identifiers, map signs and symbols may, however, not only denote but also connote. While most cartographic research has focused on the denoting character of visual variables, research from related disciplines stresses the importance of connotative qualities on affect, cognition, and behavior. Hence, this research focused on the connotative character of map symbols by empirically assessing the affective qualities of shape stimuli. In three stimulus conditions of cartographic and non-cartographic contexts, affective responses towards a set of eight shape stimuli were assessed by employing a semantic differential technique. Overall findings showed that shape symbols lead to, at times, highly distinctive affective responses. Findings further suggest two particular stimulus clusters of affective qualities that prevailed over all stimulus conditions, i.e., a cluster of asymmetric stimuli and a cluster of symmetric stimuli. Between the intersection of psychology, cartography, and semiotics, this paper outlines theoretical perspectives on cartographic semiotics, discusses empirical findings, and addresses implications for future research.

The development of emotional indicators for the soundscape in urban open public spaces

Increasing urbanization has had a profound impact on the acoustic environment. Research on soundscapes in urban open spaces depends on users’ perceptions and feelings. By exploiting the semantic differential method, this study aims to investigate the emotions that constitute the perceptions and feelings of soundscapes in urban open public spaces. This research was carried out through a laboratory audio–visual experiment using photographs and binaural recordings of 16 urban open public locations across Harbin, China. A total of 48 participants were required to assess both the ‘perceived emotion’ and ‘felt emotion’ of the soundscape by questionnaire. A semantic differential analysis of the results shows that although the soundscapes in urban open spaces are rather complicated, it is still possible to identify five major factors of felt emotion and seven major factors of perceived emotion. Distinguishing between “felt emotion” from “perceived emotion” in soundscapes may bring about changes in evaluation and design, which will help planners better understand how to design a place to provide its users with their expected experience.

Selected Psychological Factors as Predictors of Consumer Choice in the Milk Product Market

Milk and milk products represent one of the most important components of a well-balanced diet. The average consumption of milk in 2017 in Slovakia was about 176 kg per capita. Because the consumption of milk and milk products is generally considered to be very important for human health, it is also important to convince consumers to buy these products.&#x0D; The presented paper deals with selected psychological factors that influence consumer behaviour when buying milk and milk products. We focused on 180 young consumers (20-45 years old) who belong to the generation Y and we studied the persuading power of selected tools of marketing communication (mainly visual aspects like colour, features of logos, overall look of packages, etc.) for milk.&#x0D; Several methods of psychological and marketing research were used in the study, specifically a personality questionnaire NEO FFI, semantic differential based analysis of profile, content analysis and an analysis of dependences (binomial logit). It was found that personality characteristics and the temperament structure of consumers influence their choices in the milk product market. Packages and logos of milk products are strong persuaders if they are associated with the offered products.

Examining the color, size, and packaging design of wireless‐mouse products

AbstractWith the progress of science and technology, computer peripheral products are constantly evolving. The use of touch rather than mouse operation in mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones has gained popularity because of its convenience for browsing the Internet and using apps or communication software. However, the mouse remains an essential piece of equipment for using computer software to design products and playing computer games. Wireless mice were the subject of this study, which investigated the optimal size, color, and packaging style for various mouse products. First, this study involved assessment and comparison of the sizes of commercially available wireless mice. Five sizes of mouse were selected. We then designed experiments, and participants performed tasks and completed questionnaires. The results were collected and analyzed to select the optimum product size for users. The study examined the user's psychological and emotional responses to mouse color. By conducting semantic differential analysis, 16 colors were selected for psychological testing, and the results were analyzed to identify the most suitable color. Finally, we investigated the optimal packaging styles for mouse products. In the experiment, eight styles were combined with 10 colors to produce 80 packaging styles. We use the Likert scale to collect data. The results show that the black mouse and the size of 64.5 × 95 × 35 mm3 are the most popular.

Affective images of the top rails in China traditional rosewood chairs

In order to adapt to the developing personalised customisation market, product designs should consider the changed affective images of products in the current customer mind. Kansei engineering is an effective method to analysis and setup affective images of products. Rosewood furniture is the typical representative of China traditional culture. But with the change of time, its affective images in people's mind have changed and so its affective word space and images is a valuable research subject for modern furniture designers. Taking the top rails in China traditional rosewood chairs as the research subject, this paper setup the affective word semantic space of the top rails using questionnaire survey, semantic differential method and principal component analysis method, studied their affective word semantic images and tried to apply these traditional design elements in modern chair design according to their different affective images.

A Comparative Study on Indonesian and Malaysian Consumers’ Perception and Preference Towards Handphones From China, South Korea, America, and Europe

Most handphones in Indonesia and Malaysia are imported from other countries such as from America, Europe, China, and South Korea. The enhancement of global brands has reduced local brand preferences. This research aims to clarify the consumers’ perception towards brands of handphones in Indonesia and Malaysia by conducting comparative studies in both countries and examining the effects of product attributes and brand image on brand preference. Questionnaire surveys were conducted to 200 respondents from Indonesia & Malaysia. The data were analyzed by the descriptive analysis, Semantic Differential Scale Analysis, ANOVA test, and Structural Equation Modelling Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). It has been clarified that there are differences in preferences between consumers in Indonesia and Malaysia in terms of product attributes. Thus, the results of this research give benefits to the market expansion and product development in both countries. Keywords: brand preference, consumers’ perception, country of origin, brand, structural equation modeling